Christine Maxwell worked as a teacher in Oxford in the 70s. It was while teaching that she came up with the idea to write a dictionary that her own students could use even if they did not know how to spell. She wrote The Dictionary of Perfect Spelling in 1977 and it became an international bestseller. In 2005 she wrote the hugely successful revised edition for Barrington Stoke. She lives in France. Julia Rowlandson trained as a Primary school teacher and now works as an Educational Consultant. She was the Editor of the revised edition of the Dictionary. She was formerly Deputy Head of More House School.